This little dance we do
by nonpiu
Summary: A short Doug and Carol vignette. Missing Carol and the girls, Doug flies back to Chicago but Carol doesn’t wanna see him


Summary: A short Doug and Carol vignette. Missing Carol and the girls, Doug flies back to Chicago but Carol doesn't wanna see him.  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Spoiler: This is completely spoiler-free since it is set in season 6, when Carol was still in Chicago, had the twins but Doug was already in Seattle. This was inspired by a line from Carol, talking about the twins and saying "Doug has been seeing them." I felt TPTB should have shown this to us, although I know it wasn't possible, they couldn't make George Clooney show up every time they felt like it. I can, though, because this is Fan fiction land I can do whatever I want to!  
  
A/N: Just few things you might wanna know:  
  
  
  
I don't live in the US and haven't seen season 9 yet.  
  
  
  
English isn't my first language. Go easy on me but feel free to point out any mistake! I'm also looking for a beta-reader so if you wanna step in just let me know!  
  
  
  
This little dance we do  
  
By Elisa  
  
  
  
Doug Ross looked out of his big Seattle house window. The lake water was black and still, the light of the moon reflected on it with a silvery twinkle. It was about one in the morning. Doug turned around and let his eyes roam around his house. It was big, dark and sadly empty. Doug felt lonely and shivered. Not that he couldn't have had company if he had wanted to. He had had to tell that pretty lab tech from the hospital he was married and his wife had his wedding band to remember him by while she was visiting her relatives in Russia, after she had asked him out the hundredth time. Carol had relative in Russia, after all. It was just half a lie.  
  
His heart ached just thinking of her. How was she and how about his girls? She had sent him a couple of pictures; he kept one in his locker and the other in his wallet. He had visited them once or twice too. Carol had always been polite yet cold as ice. He wanted to know how they were doing. He had tried to call her a couple of times, not actually having the nerve to dial all the number. Once he had mustered up all his courage to do it a male accented voice had answered so he had hung up without saying who he was. Carol was seeing someone else, a foreign guy from the look of it, and that hurt. Maybe he played with his girls too. He tried to shrug those sad thoughts from his mind, they were too painful. He drank another sip of his beer and sighed. He missed them so much even he couldn't properly miss Kate and Tess since he had never lived with them, still. He looked at his watch: it was half past two in Chicago.  
  
  
  
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The luminous numbers on Carol's alarm clock told her it was 2:36 A.M. when a baby's cry woke her up.  
  
"Ok, ok, I'm up." Carol muttered as she threw away her blankets and shivered in the cold. She got up and went to the babies' cradles, where Tess was crying at the top of her lungs.  
  
"Shush, shush, you don't want to wake your sister up, Tess, huh?" she asked as she lifted her up. "Up we go, come on, stop crying!"  
  
Kate burst into tears as well.  
  
"Too late, oh, you're soaked, Tess, I know, I know." Then she touched Kate's forehead. "And you're burning, Jeez. You must have a fever, and high." Carol said as she took the other little girl up. Holding a girl per arm she started to walk up and down the room, trying to sooth them.  
  
"I should bring you to the ER, Kate, and have you checked out, honey. Mercy is just a few blocks away. I don't want one of their incompetent doctors look at you, though. Maybe I can call Luka or Mark, even if it's so late."  
  
Still holding the babies she struggled to take the phone and dial Luka's number.  
  
"Hi, I'm Luka and I'm not home at the moment. Leave a message after the tone and I'll call you back as soon as I can. Zovite me u!" he said in Croatian before the message ended.  
  
Carol remembered he was working the graveyard shift that night.  
  
"Ok, let's go to County, then! We'll se uncle Luka, ok?"  
  
Tess gurgled happily. She loved Luka. It took Carol about two hours to get the girls ready, mainly because she had fallen asleep on the toilet. She was so tired. As she was putting a small glove on Kate's small hand, struggling because the girl kept moving and she was holding Tess at the same time, the doorbell rang. Who the hell could be at nearly five in the morning?  
  
She managed to grab the doorknob and opened the door with her foot, balancing the twins in her arms.  
  
"Doug? What the hell are you doing here?"  
  
"I wanted to see you. Why are you all dressed up? You going for a late night stroll, huh? Here, let me help you." Doug said with his charming crooked smile, shaking his head in that way of his Carol always found damn sexy, leaning against the doorframe, and took Kate from her arms.  
  
"Hey, you're burning little one!"  
  
"I was about to bring them to the hospital to have Kate checked out."  
  
"Perfect timing, then. You've got a pediatrician on your doorstep."  
  
"Oh, sure, come on in, Doug."  
  
Doug did as he was told an gently put Kate on the couch, unbuttoning her dress. He put his ear on her little belly, not having his stethoscope with him, and she shivered. "I know, my ear is cold, I didn't remember Chicago being so damn cold in spring." Doug listened to her breathing.  
  
"I don't hear any fluid in her lungs. Good, turn on the light, please."  
  
Carol switched the lights on and watched Doug make Kate open her mouth and check her throat.  
  
"No sore throat either. I think it's just a bad cold. Just keep an eye on her and give her fluids."  
  
"Thanks Doug, you spared us the trip to the hospital. By the way, why did you come all the way from Seattle in the middle of night, huh?"  
  
"I told you, I missed you, Carol. I wanna be with you and the girls."  
  
"And that's exactly what I don't want you to do, Doug, coming back for Kate and Tess. You chose to go away and leave me behind. We've got nothing to tell each other, just go away, please."  
  
"You didn't tell me you were pregnant!"  
  
"I didn't want you to stay just for that!"  
  
"They're my daughters too, remember? I don't wanna be like Ray!"  
  
"Doug, please, go away, now." Carol ordered as Kate started to cry. "Don't scream, Doug! She's afraid of strangers."  
  
"See? I'm their father's for Christ's sake!"  
  
"You can visit. You have already."  
  
"How often? Once, twice a month? I wanna be a part of their lives!"  
  
"I told you not to scream!"  
  
"You are screaming now, Carol!"  
  
"Doug, why don't you just go screw some girl and have another baby, huh? The world's full of pretty twenty-two year-olds who can't resist your charm."  
  
"I don't wanna have sex, let alone a bay, with anyone but you, Carol. I see my charm doesn't work with you anymore, though."  
  
"I'm not twenty-two anymore and I've developed a defense system, Doug. Please go now."  
  
"I won't go back to Seattle without you and the girls, Carol."  
  
"Start looking for a hotel room, then, and get ready to wait!" she said as she slammed the door on his face. She sighed and leaned against the door, sliding against it until she was sitting on the cold floor. The phone rang.  
  
She slowly got up and answered it. "Hello?"  
  
"Carol, you can't avoid me forever, we belong together and you know it!"  
  
"We don't Doug!" she hang up on him.  
  
  
  
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The following day Carol was walking to work. She entered the ER, where Doug was already waiting for her. She frowned and sighed.  
  
"Doug, get lost!"  
  
"Carol, you gotta listen to me, please, I-"  
  
"Security!"  
  
Two guards took Doug by his arms and escorted him out. Mark walked up to Carol. "Carol, why don't you cut Doug some slack? He deserves a chance at least, he's trying really hard. He stayed with me last night."  
  
"I'm sorry he dragged you into this, Mark."  
  
"He's just trying to be a father to his daughters, and he loves you."  
  
"You shouldn't take sides, stay outta this Mark. He could be a dad from Seattle, too."  
  
"When are you gonna forgive him for moving away?"  
  
"It's none of your business, Mark!"  
  
"He lost his job, he asked you to go with him, what else was he supposed to do, Carol?"  
  
"He expected me to leave everything and follow him a like a puppet!"  
  
"Did he have a choice?"  
  
  
  
"He could have stayed I guess. I'll tell you just one more time, Mark, stay out of this."  
  
  
  
  
  
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Doug was riding up to daycare in the elevator to see his girls. When he got there he saw a dark-haired man playing with Kate and Tess and frowned.  
  
"Who are you?"  
  
"I'm Luka Kovac, I'm a friend of Carol's. You here to see the Hathaway girls?"  
  
Doug recognized the thick accented voice and spat out angrily "Ross, their last name is Ross."  
  
"Oh, yeah, right. I gotta go now, bye."  
  
A woman approached him. "I'm sorry, sir, but I have to ask you to leave."  
  
"I'm their father."  
  
"Miss Hathaway told us to page her and alert security if you showed up, Dr. Ross. We all know what you look like. It's better if you go now. I don't wanna call security."  
  
Doug shook his head and walked away.  
  
  
  
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As she pushed a double stroller Carol saw Doug sitting on her doorstep.  
  
"Leave us alone, Doug!" Carol exclaimed as she opened her front door.  
  
"I just want to let you know that I'll sue for joint custody if we can't talk civilly, Carol!"  
  
"You're a bastard!" Carol said, trying to slap him.  
  
Doug held her by her wrists. "I love you, Carol, and I know you love me."  
  
He leaned forward and kissed her. Carol tried to fought at first then, cursing herself for her weakness and for this effect he always had on her, she kissed him back and let herself slid into his arms. They made love desperately on the living room floor, like two people lost in the desert, dying of thirst, the door still ajar, like they had done on their first date, as the twin looked at them, strangely silent, as if they understood what was going on.  
  
As she hooked her bra and buttoned up her blouse, Carol felt like waking up from a dream " How come you always succeed in making me feel so cheap, Doug, huh?"  
  
Doug shook his head and whispered bitterly "You really hate me so much, Carol?"  
  
"More than you think." Carol lied.  
  
Looking really hurt, Doug cast her an indecipherable look, grabbed his jacket, kissed the twins goodbye and silently walked out. Carol sighed, fighting tears back. Why things had always to be so complicated between her and Doug? Their relationship had always been like a roller coaster, breathtaking yet scary.  
  
Later that day Carol asked Mark "Have you seen Doug?"  
  
"He caught the first plane to Seattle. He looked so upset."  
  
Carol ran into the drug lockup and cried until her eyes were dry.  
  
  
  
Fine  
  
  
  
A/N: I realized I've written about pretty much all ER characters but not about Carol and Doug. So I came up with this. Hope you liked it. Let me know please! 


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